Wood Dollhouse Furniture Plans

One thing I have been wanting to get on my site are these DIY dollhouse furniture plans.These are intended and designed to be easy for preschoolers and children play with and are stronger than most realistic dollhouse miniatures. However, these will break if abused, so be mindful of your child's temperament before making them. I would recommend ages 5 and up, but if you have a mature child at a younger age, they'd probably work fine. We built them through for a 3 year old, and have had two boys grow up with playing with them since toddling around. Most have made it through absolutely fine. Others, I made stronger and updated the plans below to reflect those changes. **Disclaimer** I'm not responsible for broken pieces, choking hazards, or toxic paints. You make them, you're responsible for supervising your kids and researching materials.

Instructions

The number of pieces you'll want to make may vary so there is no large formal cutlist. Cut are just listed piece by piece. Chair (1) 1 1/2" x 1" (1) 1 1/2" x 1 1/4" (1)1 1/2" x 1" Either (1) 1 1/4 x 1/4" diameter dowel OR (1) 1 1/2" x 1/2" cut to 3/4" x 1/2" for support There are two methods for making this char a little stronger. Using dowels might be easier if you have a drill press. Drill a 1/4" hole 1/8" deep in both the front and the back of the chair centered from the sides and 1/2" from the bottom. Or you can glue the cut wood just under the center of the seat of the chair for support. Kitchen table (1) 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"(1) 3 1/2" x 2" (2) 3 1/4" x 2" Create an X under the table for support. Sand to make sure it sits flat.Couch (1) 5" x 1 3/4" (1) 5" x 2 1/2" (2) 1 1/2" x 2 3/8" Glue the seat and back of the seat together first, 90° apart. While that is drying shape the sides. When the center is dry, glue it to the sides, angling the seat so it's parallel with the angle of the sides.Loveseat (1) 3 1/2" x 1 3/4" (1) 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" (1) 2 1 1/2" x 2 3/8" Same as above.

*Comments

The wood glue you choose is very important. This is what keeps your kids from breaking the furniture apart (in addition to the design). From what I've read, wood glue needs to be no older than a year to hold properly. Invest in the strongest wood glue you see (but not the biggest bottle - it goes bad, remember). Invest in some clamps. In the long run, the furniture we clamped together with a real clamp are still going strong, but the ones we just 'held tightly' in place by hand or with tape fell apart. I used regular acrylic craft paint for color and butcher block wax as a sealant. Pre-painting the pieces individually gives a nice clean lines, but don't pre-paint the side/section you are gluing. Otherwise the glued joint is only as strong as the paint - not strong at all! Also, be warned the paint didn't take the wax at all. I struggled to find a good, ecofriendly, childsafe sealant. In the end, I found that options used for chopping blocks or salad bowls seemed safest. Waxes wear over time (and possibly rot if done wrong), and can feel a bit greasy at first. Sealants (for salad bowls) would work well, but are toxic before they cure. Pre-sanding smooth the strip of wood before cutting saved a lot of time. I only had to worry about sanding the edges where I cut later. Using maple would likely be nice and smooth without any sealing. We used a basic handsaw and miter box for the project. We made the miter box out of scrap wood following Bob Vila's tutorial.